The Godfather Celebrates Its 40th Anniversary With Re-Release This Thursday

In addition to being the year that The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers, The Hobbit and Skyfall come out, 2012 has some very special anniversaries. As we previously reported, Paramount Pictures, founded in 1912, is celebrating its centennial, but one of the company's greatest films has a big birthday this year. The Godfather, released in 1972, is now 40 years old and that isn't going unnoticed.

Paramount has announced that on March 1st - a.k.a. this Thursday - 55 Cinemark XD auditoriums around the country will be showing Francis Ford Coppola’s restored version of The Godfather. According to the press release, the film has been "meticulously restored using 5.1 digital surround sound and re-mastered using state-of-the-art technology." Continuing the celebration, Cinemark theaters will also be showing The Godfather Part II on XD screens, though that won't come until April 19th.

Said Cinemark VP of Marketing and Communication James Meredith, ""There is no greater iconic film than The Godfather. It has set the standard for story-telling, launched a generation of great actors, and provided movie-goers an unparalleled experience." The year it was released The Godfather won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Marlon Brando) and Best Adapted Screenplay. Since its release the film has made nearly $250 million at the global box office and is considered by most to be one of the greatest films of all time.

Really, the only shame here is that it's not a longer engagement, as most people aren't going to have time to go see a movie on a Thursday night. What only makes matters worse is that The Godfather was originally released on March 24, 1972 and this year March 24 falls on a Saturday. I suppose they just want to keep as many theaters open for The Hunger Games as possible.